The Green Tablecloth

This week has been a week of–among other things–two unexpected gifts.

The first was a practically new green damask tablecloth which a thoughtful and generous person handed to me at the church door on Sunday. She knew we needed round tablecloths for special occasions and had one she wasn’t using.

The second gift was a conversation in Wednesday’s “Bible 101″ class. We talked about ways to read the bible, and I introduced folks to the Daily Office Lectionary and the Mission St. Clare app. We talked about the challenges of adding new disciplines–let alone new small group bible discussions–to already-packed schedules, and how those challenges conflict with the longing to connect….connect with the biblical text and connect with others on the same journey.

Someone in the conversation said: “What if anyone who wanted to could gather at a particular table during coffee hour each Sunday to talk about their experience of the daily lectionary that week?” And so the Green Tablecloth was born of these two gifts, a tablecloth and a conversation. Look for the table this Sunday, and share your hopes for an Advent-born discipline of daily scripture reading. ‘Tis the season in the church year, after all, for new year’s resolutions.

The blessing of peace

From this morning’s psalm 29: “The Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.” St. David’s is blessed with peacemakers these days and I thought in this “season of sharing” it was worth mentioning some of them.

Our artist-in-residence, LeRoy Goertz, has an vision of art as areconciliation, and has stories to prove it. LeRoy sculpts and talks about peace in his Art of Reconciliation office in our lower level. Learn more about LeRoy Goertz and his work at www.artofreconciliation.com.

The Portland Peace Choir (www.portlandpeacechoir.com) had an overwhelmingly successful first concert at St. David’s in November, the church packed to the rafters with people longing to hear songs of peace. Members of the choir have come back to sing with us on Sunday mornings, and others are exploring using our space for other kinds of peace-making activities. The Peace Choir’s spring concert is May 22, 2010.

The Zen Community of Oregon is hosting a 12-hour Chant for Peace on January 9 in our parish hall. What a blessing of peace that will be! Members of the Portland Peace Choir and St. David’s Choir will be among those participating in this important event. You can learn more at www.zendust.org/12_hr_c_4_peace.html.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, we are blessed indeed!

Driven by joy

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The “someone” in the first mini-parable is in contrast to the rich young man we heard about a few weeks ago from Mark, the guy with so many possessions that he went away sorrowful. To that young man Jesus said: “you lack one thing.” The one thing is perhaps the joy that is the motivation for today’s unnamed “someone” to sell everything in order to buy the field. He doesn’t just want the treasure, he wants the whole field.

This reading makes me ask: where do we see the kingdom around us? Where do we see glimmers of the kingdom, like a jewel glinting up through grass in the sun, filling us with so much joy that we’re willing to sell all that we have? What gives us that kind of joy? And how do we recognize the one pearl of great value? I’m longing to hear real-life stories of people selling all they have—literally or figuratively—in order to unveil the kingdom. These two guys–the one who buys the field and the merchant after the pearl–are driven by joy. What drives us?

Lonely churches

“How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations!…her priests groan; her maidens have all been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly.” Lamentations 1:1-5. 

How lonely sit the churches that were full of people!

This reading from Lamentations about the desolation Judah, “suffering for the multitude of her transgressions” brings to mind all of the desolate, empty churches spread out across our city and all across North America and Western Europe, churches that, when built, were grand and triumphant. What have been their transgressions? What other gods have they run after? To what foe are our children now captive? Can we still hear the voices of the people who “groan as they search for bread”?

How can we move from despair to celebration, celebration of the new thing that is ready to be born in our very midst?

Reformin’ Norman

Yesterday morning I was reading about Josiah–one of my favorite stories from Second Kings. This guy is doing a major renovation on his property–so major it’s more like an archaological dig than a plumbing project. So one of the workers finds something buried way down under the basement, and its an old, old scroll. He gives it to his boss, the contractor, who brings it to the King. This turns out to be an ancient copy of the Book of Deuteronomy, or something a lot like it. The King has a 6th-century-BCE version come to Jesus: OMG, we haven’t been doing this at ALL! After rending his garments Josiah proceeds to destroy all the temples built to other gods, and dedicates the rest of his life to restoring Judah to right living and right worship. (Come to find out this morning that his son did not follow suit, but that’s another story.) So if someone came across a lost book during a major construction project in Portland today, what book would make us rend our garments and change our lives? What reforms are needed in our Church?